On Monday Sunday, Theodore was in the stands of the Rogers Cup tennis final in Montreal, where Rafael Nadal faced off against Milos Raonic.

Raonic, down 5-1 in the first set, served to Nadal. The number-three player in the world misplayed Raonic’s serve and watched his return sail dangerously into the stands.

Fast forward to the 33:06 mark.

“A high fly ball into the stands…” the commentator began. ” Nice catch!”

The camera then pans to a man wearing a black fedora, shades, and a blue button-up shirt holding the tennis ball up proudly in his right hand. In his left, he clutches both his phone and a beer. The crowd gives the man a loud ovation. The broadcast replays the man’s feat in catch motion.

“That would have been over the first baseman’s head if this was still a baseball stadium,” the play-by-play man continued.

“And he didn’t spill a drop of beer,” the color man exclaimed.

Of course, the he was in fact Theodore, the former Capital, currently an unsigned free agent heading into the 2013-14 season.

If another team is looking for a back-up goaltender who is cool, collected, has cat-like reflexes and a great head of hair in addition to a big heart, he’s your guy.

Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Jonathan Toews, and Alex Ovechkin. Those are the names most seen in the deluge of chatter about this season’s Hart Trophy, the award given each year to the player deemed most valuable to his team. Washington’s own goal-scoring leader Alex Ovechkin seems to be the underdog in those conversations for a variety of reasons, namely that he plays in a bad division and wasn’t exceptional until the middle of March. I think those reasons are suspect, but the Hart conversation is already marred by a whole lot of questionable conventional wisdom.

The Hart Trophy is supposed to be awarded to the player that the Professional Hockey Writers Association deems most valuable to his team. While the actual inscription on the Hart Trophy leaves out the whole “to his team” part, I find that little prepositional phrase to be crucial. The NHL is unlike the MLB, whose MVP award has a simpler definition (“most outstanding player“), the same one used for the Ted Lindsay Award.

The Lindsay is the NHL’s real MVP award: voted on by the players and without consideration for team quality or any of the other logical convolutions that make the Hart the cause of ulcers for everyone silly enough to care about it.

The Hart is for the League’s Best Player

If the Hart were truly an assessment of who the league’s best player is, we could just calculate everyone’s GVT (goals versus threshold, a catch-all stat similar to baseball’s WAR, invented by Tom Awad). The guy with the highest GVT gets the trophy and we all go home.

But it’s not about “who’s best?”, it’s about “who is most valuable?” An insultingly dumb analogy would go like this: a glass of water is more valuable to a guy in a desert than it is to a guy with a Brita. To understand value, we have to understand context. In this case, context is the team. So let’s talk about teams.

Non-Playoff Teams Need Not Apply

The assertion seems to be that about half of all players are disqualified from contention because their teams sucked. Imagine a player who scored more than a quarter of his team’s total goals and assisted in another 15%. Is he not valuable because his team valued him too much? The logic sort of unspools there. That player was Steven Stamkos, and using the NHL’s own definition of the Hart, he certainly deserved a look for last year’s trophy.

Maybe it’s just that goalies play fewer games a season than skaters. Now that you mention it…

The Games-Played Cutoff

Sidney Crosby will have played in 75% of games this season. That’s a larger percentage than Mario Lemieux played when he won the Hart in 1992-1993. By conventional wisdom, Crosby should not be eliminated from Hart contention, and I totally agree. While there seems to be some kind of minimum threshold of games played for someone to be considered a Hart nominee, it’s arbitrary. That’s okay: this is and should be a subjective award based on the individual value judgments made by its voters. I’m just here to question what those value judgments are, and this one seems legit.

To me, awarding the Hart is identifying the player who is more indispensable to his team than anyone else on any team. It’s not the player who– if you replaced him with some schmuck off the streets (let’s just call that schmuck Jussi Jokinen)– his team would still win six in a row and eight of their last ten games. That replaced player may still be fantastic (in fact, this hypothetical player from Nova Scotia might still be a slam-dunk for the Ted Lindsay), but his value proportional to his team is not as high as other players’.

All the points above are important in discussing how to differentiate good players, but they’re not really relevant to players’ values to their teams, and that’s what matters. Or is supposed to matter, at least.

I don’t know who will win the Hart Trophy. If it’s Crosby, the cynic in me would feel vindicated and the hockey fan in me would be delighted. But judging by public conversations about the Hart, the deliberative process is a mess– poorly defined and clouded by all kinds of dubious wisdom.

Predicting who will win the Hart is a sucker’s game. I usually find it more illuminating to talk in terms of “should” rather than “will” anyway. Especially in the case of the Hart Trophy, which is stupid.

John Carlson shot a one-timer to Theodore’s far side that was tipped in by ample bottom of Troy Brouwer, the same gentleman who caught a monster saucer pass from Braden Holtby before unleashing a perfect slapshot on Florida’s Jose Theodore. Joel Ward capped off an offensive-zone takeaway with a snazzy goal from the slot. The Caps cracked the four-goal plateau for the first time thanks to a nifty one-timer by Ovechkin right after the faceoff. Mathieu Perreault earned his first of the year halfway through the third, chasing Jose Theodore from net in the process.

Hey, look at that. No goals against. Hmm.

Caps beat Panthers 5-0.

During tonight’s game I drank red wine. It was rather… high brouw.

No, but seriously: Troy Brouwer. The Capitals’ best social-media user was also (one of) its best players tonight. Brouwer had a two-goal night– screening and tapping in Carlson’s shot and firing one of the best breakaway slapshots I’ve seen in a long while. He was also a dynamic force on the power play as well. Fantastic effort.

Three or more. Former Cap Jose Theodore had a rough night, stopping just 16 of the 21 shots he faced. You gotta feel for Jose, a classy gentleman since he broke things off with Paris Hilton, but we are really thankful for him stinking up the joint tonight. (Insert double-agent joke here)

Fight! Longtime pugilist George Parros danced with John Erskine, in his first game back from suspension. It was a mostly pointless fight, but at least Erksine got the better of Parros.

After becoming a scoring machine on the power play, Alex Ovechkin finally notched one at even strength. Moar please.

Ian is calling an audible: Voldemort is staying for right now.

Welcome back to the lineup, Mathieu Perreault! Perry cleaned up a rebound made possible by some smart fencing from Eric Fehr.

Have we left anything out? Oh yeah….

Joe B suit of the night

Braden freakin’ Holtby. After weeks of really crummy play, Holtby earned his shutout tonight. Florida outshot the Caps, and Braden had the solution to every one of them. There were some scary moments on the penalty kill, but Holtby was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

This was what this team needed. Not just a competent game, but an excellent one. The Caps were energetic on offense and flawless on D. After going up a couple goals, they kept their foot on the metaphorical pedal– pressing for another three.

I’m not saying this is where the team turns it around, but

Wait I am.

This is where the team turns it around. God help any rubber cows and chickens and miscellaneous rubber barnyard animals in the area.

Does Alex Semin Care? That was the dominant headline before training camp. On August 17th, former Cap Matt Bradley spoke candidly to an Ottawa radio station and questioned the Russian winger’s commitment to hockey and the team. “When you’ve got a guy like that, you need him to be your best player, or one of your best players, and when he doesn’t show up, you almost get the sense that he wants to be back in Russia.”

With a minute left in the third period of Thursday’s game and the Caps up only a goal, Alex Semin showed how much he loved DC by putting the Capitals back in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season with a dazzling individual play. As two Florida Panther defenders shadowed Brooks Laich along the boards, Sasha Minor — unguarded in the corner — took a pass, went strong to the net, and lifted a backhanded shot over Jose Theodore.

Video is below the jump.

To celebrate, the elated Semin apparently couldn’t decide between punching the glass or kicking the boards. So naturally, he did both to disastrous effect. As both hand and foot hit board, Semin lost his balance and clumsily fell to the ice. There he laid for several seconds, resembling a fallen Civil War soldier, until his teammates greeted him with back pats, head rubs, and an ice spray.

Maybe Brads was wrong, maybe Brads was right. But in the end, Semin concluded the Capitals’ 2011-12 regular season the same way it began: with a goal.

This is it. The Caps nipping at the heels of the division-leading Panthers, playing to deny them the clinch and maybe snatch their crown.

Jay Beagle scored early, trapping a Troy Brouwer shot with his rump and firing from the sweet spot. Alex Ovechkin got on the board in the second, crashing the net and converting Marcus Johansson’s rebound. Brooks Laich piled on with a sniper shot from the high slot after a long session in the offensive zone. Mikael Samuelsson was all alone in the Caps zone, breaking the shutout with a high wrister. The Cats made it a one-goal game via Ed Jovanovski’s deflect goal early in the third. Alex Semin made it a four-goal night with a minute left. Caps beat Panthers 4-2. We’re playoff-bound, baby!

Michal Neuvirth is The Guy– err, at least he was until Marco Sturm collapsed on his knee. Mikey needed assistance to leave the ice. It’s a scary sight– a hyperextension injury would end his season and leave the Caps without either of their goalies.

No penalty for Sturm on that, but an anonymous source at a high level of the administration did report seeing Greg Williams hand him a tenner during the intermission.

On the other end of the ice, former Capitals goalie Jose Theodore had a rough night. This was his first game playing at Verizon Center against his old team, and Theo ended up serving succulent rebounds to his old teammates a few times. Four goals against on 24 shots.

Jay Beagle has been a terrific surprise this spring. He’s been physical on the penalty kill, capable at grinding and drawing penalties, and — oh yeah– he scores now! Beags knows that which is a secret to no one: go to the net and good things happen.

Also playing like a maniac: Matt Hendricks. Hendricks hit everything wearing skates, including the goalie one time. He may not be producing points, but the game is so much badder ass with him in it.

Alex Ovechkin‘s ice time is curious. He’s already seen his average ice time fall by more than a minute this season (perhaps expected given his advanced years), but who would have thought that the Caps’ best player would get less ice than Matt Hendricks (for most of the game at least)? Is this another artifact of Dale Hunter’s precise line-matching?

The Caps back-halfed the second period. Although they finished with 10 in the middle frame, the Caps hard nary a one before the five-minute mark (same story in the first period). For long spells, it feels like shooting just isn’t a priority for this team– which is mystifying for a team as skilled as this one and playing in a game as climactic as this one was.

Maybe the problem isn’t about priority, but competence. The Capitals could scarcely effect a breakout in the game’s second half, and Florida had little trouble quelling them on neutral ice.

Final Joe B suit of the night (regular season)

Once upon a time, the Caps enjoyed a three-goal lead in this game. It eroded a bit, but lasted. Whew!

Tonight’s was the CSN Washington’s last game covering the Capitals’ regular season. Joe Beninati, Craig Laughlin, and Al Koken. They’ll be back.

Elsewhere in the league, Buffalo’s big date with Philly went poorly. With that loss, Buffalo is eliminated, and the Capitals have locked up a postseason appearance. There’s just two matters remaining unresolved: at what spot and against which opponent?

We’ll find out on Saturday. If the Canes beat the Panthers in regulation and the Caps beat the Rangers, the Caps will play the Devils in the first round and win the Southeast banner for the fifth consecutive year. Plus, who knows what Ottawa will do?

If you’re the Rangers, and you’ve got the #1 slot all locked up, what do you do on Saturday? Play your star goalie and all your best guys? Try to win it with grinders… or do you tank it and let the Caps win so you can try to play the Panthers in the first round?

]]>http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2012/04/05/playoffs-here-we-come-caps-beat-panthers-4-2/feed/18Florida Panthers Pregame: The Most Important Game in the History of Everhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2012/04/04/florida-panthers-pregame-the-most-important-game-in-the-history-of-ever/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2012/04/04/florida-panthers-pregame-the-most-important-game-in-the-history-of-ever/#commentsThu, 05 Apr 2012 03:00:17 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=31797

Early Morning Skate: Our doctor advises those of you with heart issues, temper problems, or who are prone to premature catastrophization to avoid watching the Capitals Thursday night. In fact, why not just turn the TV and iPad off and curl up into a little whimpering ball right now.

The rest of us? We few… we lucky few… are ready for, and this is no hyperbole, the single most cosmically important game for any team since the beginning of time. That said, will the Capitals be ready as well?

Alex Semin

As Peter noted, there are a variety of ways this thing could still go, but all paths to gooey hockey goodness start with us, and Florida’s defeat. This season has defied analysis in large measure due to the unpredictable, up-and-down, shaked-then-baked nature of Washington’s play game to game. One night we’re out of the box like a rifle shot, knocking solid teams off their skates and never letting up. The next, we look like the Glen Burnie Men’s Retiree Club without their Metamucil.

The most cogent analysis we’ve cooked up: heart. Those bad games, they wear on their faces. When we look at the bench during those bad night, we can see that they just don’t believe in themselves and have already given up.

We’re not giving up, Brave Men in Red, and we believe you haven’t, either. That’s why you must defeat Florida. There are so many permutations of possible outcomes between now and Saturday night, that it makes our hair hurt (or what’s left of it), just trying to comprehend. But for the Caps, as Tim Russert said, it all comes down to, “Florida, Florida, Florida.” But luckily for us, we don’t have a Supreme Court interfering and screwing things up – this one is on us, all us. No dangling chads this time, just dangles. Dangles, dekes, curls, drags, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, CRASHING and SCOARING!

The Non-Stat-Tastic Taunting Pregame

People – annoying people, mostly – say that “Washington was built on a swamp.” Haha, but it wasn’t and they’re ass-butts. What is true is that Florida was a swamp, and now has been converted into America’s Garbage Pile of stuff the rest of us don’t want anymore. Think about it: Backstreet Boys. Katherine Harris. Paula Hawkins. Dave Barry. Charlie Crist. All that refuse that sensible types toss away, wanting to forget their mistakes? It just sorta tumbles down the continent and collects in our national sewer. You think we’re kidding about this garbage stuff? The highest elevation in Florida is a measly 345 feet above sea level – that is if you don’t include the state’s approximately 100 landfills. That’s the real FLorida topography.

So just imagine the sort of goblins that inhabit Sunrise, Florida – the non-ironically-yet-oh-so-tragically-named home of the Panthers. Tod Browning’s Freaks had nothing on this place. Gooble-gobble, they’re awful. And they’re also kinda the recycling heap of the Washington Capitals (which we think unfairly taints the noble cause of recycling.) “Flash” Fleischmann. “Brads” Bradley. “Blitzkreig” Sturm. And José “Still So Hot” Theodore. You could be forgiven for thinking this team is just a collection of old rubber bands and dirty doggie-bags…except. Except for the fact that we’ve pretty much been looking up their skirt all season.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have their number on speed-kill-dial.

The Throw Down in China Town

Home and Away. Four times we’ve met this year. Twice here, twice down in the urinal / litterbox. At home, we win. Down there, we’re in the toilet. I don’t need to tell you that the Caps still are among the best at-home teams in the League. Or that we play the stink-cats at the Phone Booth.

Shut Yo’ Mouth. Not only have we won at home, but we’ve shut the kittehs out both times, the Panthers’ longest series of shut-outs yet. We have our Top Cat between the pipes on Thursday, but Jose Pussycat hasn’t logged a win since mid-March, leaving the heavy lifting to Scott Clemenceau or some other surrender monkey.

Stay Filthy. We’ve noted Ovi’s rouse from Wintertime slumber to Springtime colossus. We’ve seen Nicky take back the dot (or BE the dot) and, hopefully soon, awaken our hibernating power play. We’ve seen Beags start pawing hard at the net while Old Man Kanoooobs never stopped. And, H8ers (or Twenty-H8ers) I’m talking to you, Alexander Semin has game in/game out continued to show his quality. There is nobody in teh NHL who can snipe like Sasha. That 14 minutes of TOI from the Bolts game was an abomination, and we’re still shaking our heads. Coach, keep him on the ice, and Sasha, keep it up, Russian Huggy-Bear.

Any Time Over Time. Yeesh. I’m still in the books as hating overtime, and really hating shoot outs. Yet the Caps have twice in just two weeks shown what a shoot out should look like. Hendy? We’re looking in your direction! Overall, we’ve got the mojo over the Panthers in this category…should it come to it. But it better not. Win in regulation. Close the deal in 60.

Hollywood Ending. “Forget it, Jose. It’s Chinatown.”

The Throwback Jersey

Look, this has been a heck of a season. And by heck we mean other words our RMNB overlords don’t like us using, even though we’re all grown-ups and know what we’re talking about but have to maintain the façade of politesse because, whatever. We’ve hooted and hollered and fist-bumped and taken too many rides-of-shame home on the Metro. It’s still too early for look backs because we’re still looking forward to playoffs. But at the second to last regular season go-around, we can’t wait for Thursday evening. (And our throw-back jerseys are bad luck to boot.)

7pm on the teevees. Unlike Saturday’s season finale against the Rags, the Thursday game is on CSN. Thank God we won’t have to suffer through the lunatic, hate-filled ranting and raving of the NBC (Nattering Braying Carping) announce team. And we’ll see you on the Twitters – use the special hashtag: #RussianMachineBreaksYou

How was your weekend? The Caps won. That was cool. I bet Coach Hunter is psyched. I lost my cell phone. That sucked.

On Monday night, the Capitals hit the road again, leaving a tumultuous three-game home stand behind them. They’ll be suiting up in Sunrise, Florida, which is a ludicrous name for a city. The hosting team? The Florida Capitals.

Marjory the Trash Heap was also assembled from other people's refuse.

Ahh, shoot! Florida Panthers. Sorry. But the Florida roster does sport four ex-Caps: Tomas Fleischmann, Matt Bradley, Jose Theodore, and Marco Sturm (who shouldn’t really count). How did so many Caps players end up in Florida? Over the summer, Panthers GM Dale Tallon got his checkbook out and started signing free agents all willy nilly just to reach the salary floor.

And now– somehow– the Panthers are at the top of the Southeast Division. No one saw that coming. This team was assembled from spare parts. We had joked that it was a retirement home. These guys shouldn’t have a cohesive personality, let alone a winning record. Instead, they’re 14-8-4 and they’ve commited the fewest minor penalties in the league. It’s disciplined and effective hockey they’re playing in Sunrise, which is still is a stupid name for a city.

The Capitals are in the awkward position of looking up in the standings to see another Southeast team. Florida is five points ahead of Washington, even if Washington has played one fewer game. So yeah, this one matters.

The Panthers are making a big deal out of the game. It’s Tomas Vokoun’s homecoming. Vokes played four seasons for Florida before leaving as a free agent last year. Even though the team has changed drastically, his return is a marketing ploy. This is from their site:

Let’s take a look at some Panthers players.

Tomas Fleischmann (12G, 15A, plus-14 ). Flash’s blood clot thing is ancient history. If he were still playing on the Caps, he’d be their best player. Remember who GM got in exchange for him? Scott Hannon, whom the team didn’t re-sign over the summer.

Matt Bradley (1G, 1A, even). Nothing to say here. I included him out of nostalgia. If he fights Matt Hendricks, there will be tears.

Kris Versteeg (12G, 12A, plus-13). The right winger is playing great hockey in what should become his career year.

Jose Theodore (2.28 GAA, .924 Sv%) is Florida’s number-one goalie. If the hockey gods are good, we’ll see Theo between the pipes.

On the Caps side, Mike Green is still out with a shattered babymaker. Jay Beagle is still doing the concussion thing, but he’s improving. Alex Semin is traveling with the team, but the shoulder injury he suffered after Jordan Staal’s charge may keep him out. We’ll know after the morning skate.

Can Coach Hunter string two wins together? Will the Caps’ offense come back to life? Will RMNB make a crack about Jose Theodore’s hair? Only one of these things is certain.

The Florida Panthers spent their Monday night trouncing the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-4. The Cats used five powerplay goals to fend off a third period rally from their rivals in America’s groin. By now the Panthers are probably already on their way up to Washington.

Here we go. This is the game you’ve been looking forward to. Not the rematch with Tampa, the date with Pittsburgh, or Thursday’s face-off with Jagr. You have been amped for this game: Matt Bradley, Jose Theodore, Tomas Fleischmann– all your exes are coming over for a dinner party and it’s going to be AWKWARD.

Sean Bergenheim

Before we do some creepy Facebook stalking on our former lovers, let’s size up the rest of Florida. Most of these guys you’ll remember from other teams because Florida is the Frankenstein’s Monster* of the NHL.

They’ve got Sean Bergenheim(1G, 0A, even), late of the Lightning and acquired seemingly because Florida had some money to burn. There he is at right. Good photo of him methinks.

Kris Versteeg (3G, 4A, even) is the real threat. Small for a forward, Versteeg is a growing threat at only 25 years old, and he’s probably the best forward they’ll dress on Tuesday night. No insults or jokes– he’s pretty good. But smells like cabbage.

There’s youngster D-man Dmitry Kulikov (0G, 1A, minus-two) who may become a force as he matures, but for now we’re just including him ’cause he’s Russian. And Erik Gudbranson (nil, nil, even), who did this to Steve Downie the other night and has our gratitude, but otherwise seems like a minor character in a Stieg Larsson book. Mountain of a man though.

Matt Bradley

Okay, let’s have fun now. Last season, Matt Bradley (0G, 0A, minus-1, bloodied) stood up to get some punch and when he got back to his chair, Jay Beagle was in it. Into free agency he went only to find a home in lovely Miami (is it Miami, right?). Matt Bradley probably wouldn’t have DiPietro’d out with Arron Asham, but Jay Beagle probably wouldn’t have spoken out of turn about Alex Semin. Matty reportedly feels bad about the violation of the locker room code, but let’s be real; this wouldn’t have been a big story had not so many people thought it true. Press Secretary C.J Cregg once said something relevant about this on The West Wing: “It’s the classic Washington scandal. We screwed up by telling the truth.”

After missing a huge chunk of last season due to another blood clot fiasco, Tomas Fleischmann (1G, 2A, plus-2) relocated from Colorado to Florida and is expected to have the bounceback season he deserves. We should be all just be glad that he is healthy and will be all up in our faces Tuesday night. No one tell him that we’ve replaced him with another Tomas because that would be weird.

Jose Theodore

And then there’s Jose Theodore, sporting a 920 SV% and one mean head of hair. Jose took bullets for his team on Monday night, so it’s unlikely we’ll see him dress for Verizon Center. That said, hopefully he’ll skip the baseball cap and let those bangs swing at concordant angles on the bench. Some people thought Theo was of middling talent, and some people obsess over his “I just work here” moment from a few years past. I prefer to think of him as the goalie who stewarded the team through their longest winning streak in history. He probably ain’t playing though, so screw him.

Instead, we’re likely to see rookie Jacob Markstrom. He’s 21 years-old and this could be his first NHL game, so break out the popcorn.

So what are we gonna do when the guys hit the ice? Manners dictate polite applause for their first shifts and then monstrous WOOP‘s every time they touch the puck thereafter. Let ‘em know you remember them, you love them, and you’re here to watch them get torn apart by your Washington Capitals. Give ‘em a standing O on their way back to the locker rooms, and then pity them quietly for being the Caps’ refuse.

After all, The Florida Panthers are a hair doll– a loosely bound amalgamation of scraps and leavings. With no personality of their own, they’ll mimic the habits of those around them. Like the creepy college roommate who downloads the MP3s you were playing just a day before, the Panthers pull crap like this:

You’ve gotta be kidding me. Powered by xfinity.

Who’s our starting goalie? Dunno, but it won’t be Michal Neuvirth, who is nursing a bruised foot. Will the Caps send in Tomas Vokoun with games against the Flyers and Wings later this week? Or will we see some HOLTBYISMS back at Verizon Center?

UPDATE: Naw, Capitals have recalled Dany Sabourin from Hershey.

Puck drop is a little after 7, so find out then. CSN will have the game, so we’ll probably have a Joe B suit for you.

UPDATE, 6:30 PM – One of Neil’s tweets just got read out loud by EJ Hradek of ESPN. Really, we’re not kidding:

Please knock Neil down a peg in the comments. He’s going to be unbearable.

UPDATE, 7:00 PM – George McPhee just spoke to the media about today’s moves: “We wanted to complete our team. Didn’t get where we wanted it last summer. I felt we needed to add a defenseman last year in the summer and we didn’t do it. We made the trade the during the year but it’s a hard process to go through. I’d rather complete it now and we’re in good shape now. We have good depth — all the holes are filled — and I think we have a good, strong team.”

A few other notes from McPhee via Sky Kerstein: The Caps were hoping to get value for Semyon Varlamov back next summer and were surprised they were able to get it now; McPhee said Washington was close to a deal with Varlamov last week, but Varly wanted to be guaranteed the number one spot and the Caps wouldn’t make that assurance; according to the GM, Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth will be in net next year and the Caps are pretty much done with the free agent pool; Tom Poti’s status is still unknown which is why they signed Hamrlik.

Looks like that’s it for the day. We’ll keep you posted if anything else breaks.

Last time the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers met, we were treated to a mortifying 3-0 shutout on home ice. Meeting for the first time in the new year, again at Verizon Center, the Caps had a chance to redeem themselves and start off the season’s second half right.

Coming off a successful penalty kill, Florida’s Mike Santorelli earned the first goal of the night, making the best of some bad defensive reads and a great pass from Dmitry Kulikov. Eric Fehr returned fire, placing the puck on the top shelf after a wraparound attempt from Mike Green. In the third and while on the power play, Mike Green used some creativity to create a backhand goal from the slot. Then Alex Ovechkin added another piece of film to his reel, a lovely semi-breakaway wrister while getting tripped. We thought Ovi’s was the insurance goal until Evgeny Dadonov turned a Varlamov rebound into the Panther’s second of the night. The away team had a primo chance to even it up in the final minute after Nick Backstrom’s crosscheck penalty, but it never happened. Caps beat Panthers 3-2.

The first period sported some of the Capitals’ worst hockey since and including that blighted December. Bad passes, bad bounces, pathetic power play. The Caps somehow had more power play minutes (4) than scoring chances (3). Frustrating.

John Carlson, who will turn 21 in Florida on Monday night, was on ice for all three of those first period scoring chances. I have a feeling Carlson is going to be a frozen margarita guy. I guess if Ovi has his way it’ll be Red Bull and vodka.

Eric Fehr‘s second period goal made him the sole author of the team’s last three (two in the Winter Classic and one tonight). He was the best forward in red this evening, with 8 scoring chances for and only 2 against. He also provided the crucial assist on Greenie’s netter. It’s hard to believe that only a few weeks ago everyone, including us, wanted to bench him. [Insert hockey cliché here.]

Neil provided some interesting context on Mike Green‘s PPG. The power play squad converts 16.7% when Green and Carlson are out there, 12.7% with just Green, and 19.2% with just Carlson. Both were on-ice tonight.

The power play still isn’t operating where it should, and NHL’s own Corey Masisak was astute in pointing out tonight’s PPG came from Green breaking away from the system to find a spot up front before scoring.

On the other hand, the PP has scored on 2 of the last 7 (28.6%) after converting only 3 of the 50 before that (6%). Progress!

Much ado was made of Bench Boss Bruce Boudreau‘s line chaos. Before tonight, the announced combos (21-90-8, 28-19-22, etc.) had only one even-strength goal between all of them. After the floundering mess that was the first period, reuniting 8-19-22 in the second was the only sane thing to do.

Alex Semin had his thigh/knee region rocked by a Florida defender at the tail end of the 2nd period and didn’t return for the 3rd. That’s bad news, but on the bright side he didn’t have a stick penalty!

Totally irrelevant update: former Cap/current handsome dude Jose Theodore recorded a shutout for the Minnesota Wild against those damn Penguins. Good jorb, Theo!

You just can’t say “shinny” on television. With the audio compression, it’s like to saying “elephant shoes”.

The Capitals are now 1st in the Southeast division and third in the East. [LATE UPDATE: And then Tampa Bay won… so back to 2nd and 4th.]

Joe B's suit of the night

After that atrocious first period, the Capitals still managed to pull out a win. Finding a path to victory, despite some lazy goals against, is what made last season so captivating. Add to it Ovechkin’s stunning GWG and standout performances by guys like F16 and @GreenLife52, it like old times again. If the Caps can forecheck, connect on passes, and crash the net earlier in every game, we’ll be eating a heluva lot of free wings in 2011.

Off to Florida on Tuesday for another rumble with the kitties. It’s 20 degrees out and windy in Frederick right now, so those tropical climes sounds pretty nice.

Have a good Saturday night, folks. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

Lots of additional reporting from Neil Greenberg. He did all the real work; I just sort of phoned this one in.